So, I can shake the drivers side wheel "significantly" on a vertical or horizontal direction. Loose relatively speaking (lugs are tight). Just started in the last week, maybe.
Car does knock a little when turning the wheel initially, but once underway and turning I don't hear it.
Car otherwise feels "normal" when driving
Passenger side feels tight.
Is it what I'm thinking, and would it fail that quickly?
Define 'quickly'
If it's not the hub (which it likely is), it's soemthing else in the suspension.
In reality? Why does it matter how quickly it failed, diagnose and fix.
I'm wondering if he means how quickly till it fails. As in 'can I use it till I get parts?'
Check the ball joints. Only buy OEM lower ball joints. For uppers, you either need to buy the whole control arm, or there there are MOOG ones that can be pressed in (need to verify if they work on NB though, might only be an NA part).
The MOOG parts are NA only.
If you can wobble the wheel horizontally (hands at 3 and 9 o'clock), it's not ball joints. Yes, when they go they can go fast.
In reply to Tralfaz: I've never had wheel bearings go from no noise wobble etc in about a week (now, it may be longer, but I only checked as the front started making noise, which was about a week ago).
In reply to Keith: Yeah, I can wobble it at any point on the clock.
The reason for asking the question on the time required to fail is just part of the "diagnostic" question I'm asking - if something doesn't normally fail "quickly" then it would lead me to look at something else.
Keith, recommendations on the replacement parts "brand" (including if FM sells them - the shame of it is, I just ordered the swaybars earlier this week...), or is any old "parts store" replacement ok?
And, in keeping with how I normally do things I'd replace both sides, but I'm feeling kind of lazy - will it come back to bite me? (I suppose that question is really rhetorical...)
FM does indeed sell new front hubs: https://www.flyinmiata.com/na-nb-blueprinted-front-hubs.html
For street use, just about anything will probably hold up. Track Miatas do treat the front hubs as a consumable, though. You can improve the lifespan with a blueprinted unit that has upgraded grease and careful running-in.
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